There was more blood on the canvas in the Glasgow boxing ring but Australian fighters have emerged clean, mean and in the hunt for medals after a productive afternoon at the Commonwealth Games.

Three Australians were in action, with flyweight Andrew Maloney and superheavyweight Joe Goodall through to the semi-finals, meaning they are guaranteed at least a bronze medal. Shelley Watts advanced to the quarter finals of the women's lightweights.

Goodall took a while to get into the swing of things in his opening bout but cruised through his quarterfinal against Keishno Major from the Bahamas. Goodall picked off Major at well and was far enough ahead by the final round he could wind down and box out a simple win.

In a session where a number of the male fighters sustained cuts that saw fights being stopped, Goodall said he kept his distance towards the end of the bout after putting himself in complete control behind a commanding jab.

"It took me a round to get warmed up in my first fight but this time I felt much sharper from the start. For 30 seconds I was rusty but then I found my target. I was landing clean shots," Goodall said.

"It's good to secure a medal but you aim for gold now. My mind is on the next fight already."

Goodall will take on rangy Nigerian Efe Ajagba in the semi-finals, which will be moved to The Hydro as the medal rounds rumble into life. Ajagba beat South African Paul Schafer, who suffered cuts under his eye and over his eyebrow before the bout was halted late in the second round.

"He's obviously a bit bigger, he's rangy, he throws lots of punches as well. It's going to be different from my last one, that's for sure," Goodall said. "I could have pressed the attack a bit more and tried a few things but I was playing it safe. You don't want any cuts."

Maloney worked strongly inside during his but with Northern Ireland's Ruairi Dalton, moving well and grinding his man down to advance. In his way stands Scotland's impressive flyweight Reece McFadden, who will have a mountain of hometown support.

Watts cleaned up England's Natasha Jonas, who started promisingly but walked into too many big shots from the Australian, who upped the tempo from the second of the four two-minute rounds and never looked back.